Today is our last chance to see parades in New Orleans. We were pleasantly surprised that we didn't have any problem finding parking by our usual street car stop, so we made it downtown with lots of time to spare. The first parade we wanted to see was the Krewe of Barkus in the French Quarter. From the Krewe of Barkus website: "Whereas, the captain, declares this year’s theme—BARK WARS: The Return of the K9– so that our members can restore order to the galaxy known as the French Quarter by wagging their tails with light saber strikes, pounding their paws with storm trooper precision and lapping up Happy Juice in a quest for canine world domination."

I think I've gone overboard on the number of photos I'm posting today but today but the Krewe of Barkus parade was really good with lots of really cute participants. It was a walking parade so the viewers and the participants tended to mingle. I think there were more dogs watching the parade then were in the parade and there were a lot of dogs in the parade. Sometimes it was hard to figure out who was in the parade as many of the people and dogs watching were also in costume. This was Ed's favourite parade.

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Floats were pushed or pulled.

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Walkers were encouraged to match there K9 companions.

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Yoda

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The official videographer.

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The parade was a family affair. This little snowball (New Orleans version of a sno-cone) crashed hard.

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Dogs and kids in the zoo wagon.

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I was really happy to see several marching jazz bands in the parade. This one reminded me of bands I've seen in movies featuring New Orleans funeral parades.

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"Where's my beer?" We joined other parade attendees in a local bar.

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Great decorating job.

Leaving the French Quarter we headed to Canal Street to watch one of the parades in Uptown (there were four parades parades). We got there just as the Krewe of Carrolton parade was ending and the Krewe of King Arthur and Merlin was beginning.

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This was a double float and needed every inch of the road to make the U-turn. We noticed a couple of difference between the parades in New Orleans and the ones is Metairie. There was police presence in Metairie but a lot more police presence in New Orleans. Also a lot more barricades along the parade routine in New Orleans (or at least where we were). The first spot we watched the parade from was near a woman who was a little nasty. We moved on a found another spot near a woman who was a joy to stand beside. She was happy and having a great time dancing along with all the dancing groups in the parade. She also encouraged her son to thank me after I gave him a couple throws I caught (a stuffy and a football).

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You just have love the kids.

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First time I've seen a mini-ambulance. I was a little surprised when a full sized stretcher was pulled out.